Audiobooks narrated by Shane Emmett

"Shakespeare’s history plays fall into two categories: political dramas and propagandistic pageants. The second category is comprised of the two plays in this presentation, Henry V and Henry VIII. These two plays have many elements in common. An underlying theme is the necessity and glory of government by sovereign royalty. Each play is presented by a chorus, who defines the action and intent of the drama. Rather than a continuous narrative the action is depicted in a series of tableaux, each of which seeks to illustrate a positive aspect of the monarch’s character. In each play an early part of the action involves the detection of treason and the punishment of the malefactors, presented as examples of the king’s shrewdness and rigorous sense of justice. Henry V, originally titled The Life of Henry the Fifth, tells the story of the king’s successful incursion into France to regain control of the territories claimed by the English crown, and his consolidation of his position by marrying the daughter of the King of France. Despite its references to the horror of military conflict, the mood of the play is generally bright and upbeat, although in the final speech the Chorus warns that much of this glory will be lost under the rule of Henry VI. Henry VIII, first published as The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eighth, was a joint production by Shakespeare and John Fletcher. It appears to have been written in 1612–1613. During a production of the play at the Globe Theatre in 1613, a cannon was discharged, resulting in a fire which burned the building to the ground. The action of Henry VIII focuses on three major events: The allegation of treason against the Duke of Buckingham, and his subsequent conviction and execution; Henry’s concern over the failure of his wife Katharine of Aragon to produce a male heir, his desire to divorce her and to marry the much younger Anne Bullen (Boleyn); and the birth of Anne’s child, the future Queen Elizabeth I. All references to Anne Bullen’s fall from grace and execution and to Henry’s subsequent marriages are strictly avoided. Henry is presented as a thoughtful and capable sovereign, somewhat overbearing, but genuinely troubled by the thought that his marriage to Katharine may have been canonically improper. Featuring Blaise Doran as Henry V and Josh Innerst as Henry VIII. Audio edited by Denis Daly"

William Shakespeare (Author), Alan Weyman, Blaise Doran, Christopher Dukes, David Shears, Denis Daly, Geraint Pickard, Gregory Dwyer, Josh Innerst, Laura E. Richcreek, Linda Barrans, P. J. Morgan, Shane Emmett, Tim Dehn, a full cast (Narrator)

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Henry IV: Part 1 & Part 2

"This full cast presentation includes Part 1 and Part 2 of Shakespeare’s Henry IV. In 1598 appeared a Quarto with the following title: The History of Henrie the Fourth; With the Battell at Shrewsburie, betweene the King and Lord Henry Percy, surnamed Henrie Hotspur of the North. With the humorous conceits of Sir John Falstaffe. At London. Printed by P. S. for Andrew Wise, dwelling in Paules Churchyard, at the signe of the Angell. 1598. This was the First Part of Shakespeare’s Henry IV, which must have been written in 1597. This play is the first in which Shakespeare really demonstrated his great and overwhelming individuality. Its dramatic structure is fairly loose, though is closer knit and technically stronger than that of the Second Part. However, as a poetical creation, it is one of the great masterpieces of the world’s literature, at once heroic and burlesque, thrilling and side-splitting. Yet these contrasted elements are not brought into hard-and-fast rhetorical antithesis, but move and mingle with a natural freedom. The driving elements of the plot are the machinations of the guilt-ridden King Henry IV to establish the legitimacy of his accession and the inevitable revolt by the former supporters who helped him to gain the throne. One of the leaders of the opposing faction is the warlike Henry Percy, nicknamed Hotspur, who the king compares unfavourably with his own son, the self-indulgent and riotous Prince Hal. The prince spends much of his time cavorting with a group of boon companions, the most notable of which is the dissipated and unscrupulous knight, Sir John Falstaff, who acts as something of a surrogate parent. At the end of the First Part, the revolt is suppressed; in the conflict, Prince Hal reveals his true character as a doughty defender of the realm. In the Second Part, the king’s health progressively declines and Hal begins to assert his royal prerogative. Eventually, the king dies, and Hal, now having shed all his adolescent impertinence, ascends to the throne. Falstaff, in expectation of elevation to high office and new-found prosperity, publicly accosts the new king and is rudely rebuffed, together with his disreputable retinue. Audio edited by Denis Daly The text used for this performance was kindly provided by playshakespeare.com. Welsh dialogue and tune for Lady Mortimer’s song in Henry IV Part One provided by Noni Lewis."

William Shakespeare (Author), Alan Weyman, Blaise Doran, Christopher Dukes, Denis Daly, Geraint Pickard, Graham Scott, Gregory Dwyer, Josh Innerst, Laura E. Richcreek, Noni Lewis, Roberta Jackson, Rory Barnett, Sarah Jane Rose, Shane Emmett, Tim Dehn, a full cast (Narrator)

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Knee-Deep in Cinders

"Freedom. Magic. Vengeance. Vilas is a man consumed by anger. Kept prisoner in the city that slaughtered his people, he dreams of the day his magic is unsealed so he can burn everything to ash. When the city’s queen asks for his help hunting down rebel cultists, he agrees in exchange for his freedom, his magic, and a night in her bed. Given access to only a fraction of his magic and forced to work alongside a jailor who can seal it entirely, a quick escape is impossible. Vilas knows his freedom hinges on his wits—and his self control. But every day he’s reminded of the horrors done to his people, testing the limits of his restraint. Can Vilas outwit the queen and have his revenge on the city, or will his all-consuming rage be his undoing? Knee-Deep in Cinders is a thrilling, standalone dark fantasy novel. If you love morally grey characters, underdogs, and quests for vengeance, lose yourself in Knee-Deep in Cinders!"

Ashley Capes (Author), Shane Emmett (Narrator)

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Songs of Innocence and of Experience

"This collection arguably contains some of the most charming lyrics ever written in English. The childlike simplicity and trust of these artless verses are unique. Blake’s poems can be enjoyed, not only for their historical importance in an age which was fiercely proud of its genius and its traditions, but also for their simple and beautiful expression of “two contrary states of the human soul.” Songs of Innocence was originally a complete collection of twenty-three poems, first printed in 1789. In 1794, a composite collection entitled Songs of Innocence and of Experience, containing forty-seven poems, was published."

William Blake (Author), Adam Skousen, Aisling Gray, Alan Weyman, Ben Stevens, Blaise Doran, Bria Sterling, Charlie Albers, Christianne Lupher, Denis Daly, Emma Faye, Erin Grassie, Gary Mcfadden, Ginger White, Graham Scott, Gregory Dwyer, John Burlinson, Kendra Murray, Kris Keppeler, Laura E. Richcreek, Lee Ann Howlett, Linda Barrans, Lisa Negrón, Lyndal Curran Doolan, Nancy Beard, Rhonda Federman, Roberta Jackson, Ron Altman, Rosalind Murphy, Sarah Bacaller, Shane Emmett, Stephanie Németh-Parker, Stephen Gage, Terah Tucker, Tim Dehn, Trisha Rose (Narrator)

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The Fairy Wren

"From the moment a fairy wren drops his lost wedding ring at his feet, Paul realises there's more magic to the world than he thought... When Paul Fischer receives a strange phone call asking for help, from a woman who might be his estranged wife Rachel, he's drawn into a mysterious search that threatens not only his struggling bookstore, but long-buried dreams too. Unfortunately, the only help comes from a shady best friend, an Italian runaway and a strange blue fairy wren that seems to be trying to tell him something - yet the further he follows the clues it leaves the less sense the world seems to make. Is he on the verge of a magical, beautiful discovery or at the point of total disaster?"

Ashley Capes (Author), Shane Emmett (Narrator)

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Small Horrors: A Collection of Fifty Creepy Stories

"Push past the curtains of your rational, safe world and explore the un-nameable horrors living in the darkest corners of our conscience. This is the realm of monsters and shifting shadows, where a single wrong step can plunge you into a terrifying fight for your life, where… - Something mimics human voices as it lures you into the woods. - A corpse had gone missing from its drawer in the morgue. - A friend's eyes are unnaturally bright as they approach you in the dark."

Darcy Coates (Author), Shane Emmett (Narrator)

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Quarter to Midnight: Fifteen Tales of Horror and Suspense

"Push past the curtains of the rational, safe world and explore the un-nameable horrors living in the darkest corners of our conscience. This is the realm of monsters and shifting shadows, where a single wrong step can plunge you into a terrifying, irreversible fight for your life. - You discover a door behind your bedroom's wallpaper. It's probably just a small crawlspace. There's nothing unusual about it...except for the quiet tapping noise you hear late at night. - A young child went missing while exploring a disused cemetery in 1965. More than fifty years later you face the gate to the abandoned graveyard, armed with a clue that could lead to answers about the boy's fate. - A mannequin is stored in the back of your rented basement room. Sometimes its dust cloth falls off. Sometimes you feel it watching you. And sometimes it moves while you're asleep..."

Darcy Coates (Author), Shane Emmett (Narrator)

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Obscura Book 1: The boy, the Girl and the Wooden Box

"Through the Obscura, Paris is upside down. Wolves, darkness and terror rule the streets… Our story begins in complete darkness with a death and a vanishing. A man mysteriously drowns in the River Seine and two children enter a dingy sideshow but never come out. In the shadowed world of the Obscura, everything that was once light is now dark and nothing is as it seems. The Gaslampers enforce brutal laws and terrorise the city with their wolves. The Calibrators attempt to resist the evil while they await the return of their hero, the Aigle. And the children desperately search for a way home. But Phillipe and Angelique didn’t arrive here by accident. The Maire of the Obscura sought them out for a dark purpose. With no way of getting out, the only man who may be able to save them is their father. A simple man whose quiet, gentle ways could not possibly triumph in this dark, violent world. The boy, the Girl and the Wooden Box is the first book in the Obscura trilogy."

Shane Emmett (Author), Shane Emmett (Narrator)

Audiobook

Audiobooks Narrated by Shane Emmett